Facing what amounted to life in prison if convicted of paying illegal kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's regime, why didn't Wyatt enter a plea a month ago and spare himself the embarrassment of a trial in which prosecutors tried to portray him as some sort of traitor? The answer lies not with Wyatt, but with his accusers. Prosecutors were quick to pounce on his plea as proof of victory, but their case, which seemed solid at the start of the trial, was crumbling.

Faced with the prospect of a hung jury — some jurors indicated they favored acquittal — they cut a deal that in all likelihood wasn't on the table when the trial began.

Wyatt on Monday pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, a deal that could land the 83-year-old tycoon in the clink for as long as two years.

But the rough-and-tumble legend of the Texas oil patch, who stood for three weeks before a New York jury, accused of paying illegal kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's regime, struck a deal of convenience — for both sides.

A nettlesome trial

It offered Wyatt and his accusers an exit from what had become a nettlesome trial for all involved.

In trading his gambler's share for the cold certainty of a plea, Wyatt seemed more expedient than repentant, saying that he didn't "want to waste any more time, at 83 years old, fooling with this operation." He simply wanted to get it done and move on.

Wyatt didn't respond to my interview request. His attorneys and prosecutors also declined to comment to me.

The case, for all its hyperbole attacking Wyatt's patriotism, proved anything but a slam-dunk for prosecutors. In three weeks of testimony, with their case about to wrap up, they hadn't produced any evidence about the offense to which Wyatt ultimately pleaded guilty.

Instead, jurors were subjected to hours of testimony and pages of documents, much of which attempted to establish Wyatt's guilty by association: He did business with Iraq. He consorted with the enemy. And so on.

Then, on Thursday, a key government witness melted down under a blistering cross-examination.

Monday, Wyatt pleaded guilty. The timing isn't a coincidence.

Wyatt was the big fish in the Oil-for-Food scandal. He's the trophy prosecutors needed to claim success in a case that has resulted in a handful of guilty pleas from other, lesser defendants.

That tells me that before the trial, they played hardball. They probably offered a take-it-or-leave-it deal, and Wyatt, for whom any prison term could be, in effect, a life sentence, decided he had nothing to lose.

Edginess on both sides

So the old gambler rolled the dice once more and went to court. But Wyatt, too, saw how the case was playing out before the jury. He heard the mountain of testimony and evidence presented against him. Even if his deals with Saddam were, as he claimed, legitimate, would jurors in wartime make that distinction?

By this week, in other words, both sides had reason to be nervous. The chances for a hung jury were better than a verdict in favor of either side. Prosecutors told the Chronicle on Tuesday the government had a number of concerns, although they didn't say what they were.

A hung jury would have meant another trial, which in turn, would mean Wyatt was a long way from getting the case over with.

He will, in all likelihood, spend time in prison, and he will pay an $11 million fine. No one will say how or if that deal was different from the one prosecutors likely offered before the trial, but you can bet that something changed in the past few days. Perhaps it was simply a smaller fine, but Wyatt, deal-maker to the end, surely extracted at least a token concession from his accusers.

Still a hero to some

Now, the process of history begins. Wyatt the criminal will be weighed against Wyatt the hero. For some who know him, there's no contest. The hero wins.

"It doesn't change my view of the man at all," said Wes Holland, who managed a ranch Wyatt owned near Henderson. "He's a great man."

His plea may seem sensible, given his age and the evidence against him, but it stunned supporters such as Holland who expected Wyatt would go down fighting, the junkyard dog cornered but not beaten.

In a way, that's what he remains. Prosecutors can claim victory, but a deal cut in the middle of a trial speaks to their worry about the outcome.